


Very Distinctive Sound

by Chibisilverwolf



Category: Leverage, Sense8 (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:03:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27576917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chibisilverwolf/pseuds/Chibisilverwolf
Summary: Eliot has special skills due to being a homo sensorium. Will they be enough to keep both his families safe?
Comments: 7
Kudos: 29





	Very Distinctive Sound

**Author's Note:**

> The Brainchild that comes from rewatching both shows and a little bit of alcohol.

Elliot sometimes hated how easily different skills came to him, especially when he would have to explain how he knew that one obscure fact and deal with the awkward looks shot in his direction as his team questioned themselves on whether or not they believed him. He was still surprised that the “very distinctive sound/pattern/stance/etc.” still worked.

He could still remember that one morning, he had just turned twenty, was serving in an undisclosed location when there was suddenly a small Japanese woman standing next to him. The two of them had jumped back from each other and Elliot’s violent reaction was enough to put his whole squad on edge. Elliot thought he was going crazy, and it didn’t help that his hallucination though she was going crazy. He wondered how crazy you needed to be in order to have your hallucination think you are crazy

Thankfully, Noriko as she was called, was able to recognize that he was not in the time or place to be having any conversation and kept quiet for the next two days coming back and forth into the forefront of his mind. Once those two days were up, the stream of conversation started and now, almost fifteen years later, it still hadn’t stopped. 

Two days later, he was back stateside and in his apartment. Once he was alone, Sonia showed up.

“Who are you?” Sonia asked as she placed both hands on her hips. “What are you doing in my apartment.” Elliot blinked and saw that where it was night when he had arrived at his apartment, the room he was suddenly in was filled with light and plants littered the room. It was cluttered, but at the same time, it felt like home. Something that did not make sense to him since he had never stepped foot in this place before. Sonia’s blond hair was tied into a tight bun on her head and she shot him an icy glare.

“Elliot. I’m officially going crazy.”

“I’m trying to find out how I’m no longer in Japan,” Noriko replied. Elliot and Sonia both turned to see Noriko standing next to them with a faint smile. “Much better than Jose, I mean Esmeralda’s, place.”

“Who’s Jose?” Sonia and Elliot asked at the same time. Elliot shot Sonia a glare which she returned.

“My other delusion.” Noriko shrugged. “I think I finally broke. All the stress of trying to get into college and Okaa-san trying to get me married. It was too much and now I’m hallucinating people.”

“You’re the hallucination,” Elliot replied. “Not me.”

“No. You’re both trespassing,” Sonia lifted a rifle from next to the door and aimed it towards the both of them. Noriko lifted her hands in surrender while Elliot raised an eyebrow. Sonia had a good grip, but he was close enough that he could disarm her if he needed to. He was really starting to dislike guns.

“For the last time! I’m not the one who is bloody crazy.” The three of them watched as a young black man walked between Sonia and Noriko and Elliot, waving his hands in the air. He was followed by a Hispanic woman. Elliot’s watched as Sonia and Noriko both followed the pair with their eyes and the pair suddenly stopped. “Where the fuck am I?”

“My cabin. How the hell did you get in?” Sonia stated as she moved her riffle towards them.

“Shit,” the Hispanic woman said as she raised her hands.

“Fuck,” the young man said. “Bloody hell. What the fuck’s happening.”

“Esmeralda?” Noriko asked.

“Noriko? You’re here too?” Esmeralda asked. Noriko nodded.

“Everyone enough!” Sonia shouted. “What are you all doing in my home? Who are you?”

“Oh good, you’re all here.” Everyone jumped again as an Indian man stood with two women wearing hajibs, and a Hispanic male.

“I’m getting really tired of asking the same question.” It was then that Elliot heard and understood what was happening. Sitting in Sonia’s cabin, he looked at the shocked faces of everyone else in the room. To think he was and was not actually sitting there was hard to describe as his ‘father’ explained to them the art of “Visiting” and “Sharing”. Trying to understand that he was no longer human, was something else entirely. He closed his eyes and took several deep breaths to control the rapid-fire of thoughts and ideas racing through his head. 

“Why us?” Elliot finally asked. “What makes us so special?” Their father explained everything to them, and the knowledge hit something profound in them.

“We were all born at the same moment,” Noriko repeated. Elliot could see her casing the room and then standing up. Elliot had the makings of a leader, he knew that. Even at this young age, he had had lead teams into battle, but watching Noriko stand tall and face all of these people that now knew each other on a level deeper than anyone had ever felt before, was enough to let him know that he would follow her.

“Everyone. My name is Noriko, I’m from Japan and I’m a college student.” She gave them a small bow and then seemed to hesitate. “How much do we know about each other?”

“Everything. There are no secrets within a cluster.” The man stated. She nodded and then gave a small shake of her head and sat back down, however that did not stop the flash of a memory passing through them of Noriko, much younger and in uniform, kissing a fellow female classmate; and liking it.

“I’m Elliot. I am from the United States. I’m solider.”

“Liam from Yorkshire.” The black man stated. “I’m in college. Pre-med. I’m hoping to be a doctor.”

“I’m Noor. I’m from the United Arab Emirates, I live at home with my parents. I help my mother with the chores.”

“I’m Nadima. I live in Pennsylvania, and I’m in College. Social work.”

“I’m Jorge and I’m from Argentina. I work on my parent’s winery.”

“I go by Esmeralda, but I was born Jose, I’m working in fashion in Colombia.”

“Sonia. I’m from Ukraine, which is where we all are, and I’m a writer.” Once they were all introduced it did not take them long to start to feel comfortable with one another. Elliot looked at the scared and anxious faces that surrounded him and he knew that he would do everything in his power to help them. This was his cluster. He would do all he could to keep them safe. 

So, when he heard whispers of the Cannibal and BPO, he made sure everyone knew how to keep themselves safe. He taught them everything he knew on how to escape a potentially hostile situation and how to disappear. When Noor’s parent tried to marry her off to a man three times her age and who was abusive. Elliot took over, broke the man leg, arm, and nose before, with Liam and Jorge’s help, got her to migrate into Argentina where she stayed with Jorge, safe from her parents and her would-be-fiancé. 

This was enough to convince Elliot that to keep his new family safe, he would need to get into another line of business. He became a retrieval expert. He learned about BPO, he learned about clusters who hunted collaborators. He wanted nothing to do with them, but if he heard of a person who needed to be extracted because BPO was on their trail, then he would step in. It was through this that he got connected with the Archipelago and earned him a nickname he rather disliked much to Noor’s pleasure. He was the man the Archipelago called to get someone out of BPO’s radar and into a new life. He might not like all that he had had to do, nor enjoy working with certain people apart of the underworld ( a certain Damian Monroe popped into his mind), but when one worked in human transportation and relocation, one made bad bedfellows.

To the Archipelago, this meant saving lives. To the rest of the world, it looked like human trafficking. 

Now, as Elliot sat on Noriko’s couch as they watched the latest game show that was taking Japan by storm, drinking a glass of Japanese whiskey. He was enjoying his morning off. Nate was working to put a job together so with his current downtime he was visiting his family. 

“How’s the new team?” Noriko asked.

“Different,” Elliot said evenly. He knew she was checking in on him. He was right about her taking the leadership position in their cluster. Noriko knew everything everyone was doing. 

“I like them,” Noriko said. If that was not a seal of approval, Elliot did not know what was. “Noor and Jorge are getting married.”

“I kind of figured that would happen. Other clusters would be appalled.” Elliot said, he gave a humorless laugh. He had heard of some of the taboo customs among different clusters. He personally could care less. Their number were both growing and dwindling at the same time. “Does it bother you?” He cast a glance in her direction.

“No. I am jealous.”

“What happened to what’s her face, Sakura?”

“Apparently she liked her bonsai pruned a little too much.”

“Ah.” Elliot paused as he broke down the analogy. “Want me to do something?”

“Thanks for the offer, but no. What about you?”

“No time. I mean, the flings, you all know about those, but beyond that. No one.”

“Elliot. You know we worry about you. You take a lot of risks in both your fields.” Noriko paused. “You did three back-to-back jobs last week alone. You need a break every once and a while.” 

“I’m good at keeping my tracks covered. This new group, Noriko, you saw that payout. I was able to do so much for us. I got Esmeralda out of Colombia when people started to realize she was not born female. Nadima got her Ph.D. funded. She is going into childcare and social services. There are a lot of kids out there that need help and some of them are like us. If we can get to them before BPO and the Cannibal, all the better. Plus, the money I used for the extraction of those two sensate last year. They are living quite happily and peacefully now that they are out of BPO’s line of sight.”

“You’re not our savior.”

“I don’t want to be.”

“You also don’t have to take care of us. We can figure it out.”

“I know.” Elliot paused. “I like taking care of all of you. It makes me feel useful.” Elliot felt Noriko wrap an arm around him. 

“Elliot. You are being safe with this new team of yours?”

“Yeah. Noriko, you know I know how to take a punch. It’s not that bad.” Elliot sighed.

“Alright. Up. Up.” Noriko pushed Elliot up from the couch. “Let me teach you one of the recipes that my mother taught me. Said, the best way into a man’s heart is through their stomach.”

“That might be true for Liam.” Elliot joked. Noriko shared the laugh as their once thin as a rail cluster-mate was starting to expand around the middle. 

“Lizzy does keep him well fed whenever he’s home. I think that man’s put on twenty pounds since he got married last year.”

“Don’t know how she does it, but Lizzy makes some of the best food I’ve ever tasted,” Elliot said.

“So true,” Noriko stated. She pushed Elliot into the kitchen and started to pull out ingredients. “Do you think he’ll ever tell her about us?”

“No idea. I’d like to meet her, one day, but at the same time.”

“Yeah.” Noriko paused. “I get it.”

“Noriko, you do know, that if you know something, I know it too, right?”

“Yeah, but.” Noriko paused. “You’re thinking about something and you’re worried we’ll get mad.”

“I’m thinking about going back onto blockers,” Elliot revealed. Noriko’s hand paused in their place.

“Elliot. You had the worse reaction out of all of us. Plus, you said you’re safe.”

“I am. It’s just, I’m not picking the jobs. I’m worried about running into another Sensate and connecting. The glasses can only do so much to block it and if they know, I risk both the team and the cluster and I can’t do that.”

“Between you and Sonia, were fine. We all have exit plans and go bags ready. We know how to go under the radar without your help and we know where we can go for safety. We go radio silent for one year and then we check-in. We know.” Noriko paused as she considered her next words. “I can’t stop you.” Noriko looked at him. “But we don’t want to lose you. Remember, you’re important too.”

“I’ll take that into consideration.”

* * *

Parker liked Elliot. Not in the way she liked Hardison, she was aware enough to recognize that it was different. She was also aware that Elliot was different. Not enough that most people would realize, but whenever Elliot leads them or showed off a skill that she or the other members of Leverage would not assume him to have, it was as if he was different as if he was not Elliot for a moment. He would also just shrug it off. Parker was also pretty sure that Elliot could see ghosts. But that was despite the point and he got mad at her when she mentioned it to him.

“I think I might know someone,” Elliot said as he listened to the plan. He then stood up and brought his phone to his ear. Most would not have noticed that Elliot never dialed a number, but she did. He was speaking to one of his Ghosts. She tried to think of a way to ask him about it again, but she couldn’t think of a way and when she tried to approach Sophie about it, she shook her head and told her that Ghosts weren’t real. It was the same thing that Elliot had told her before storming off. At least Sofia was kinder about it.

Five minutes later, Elliot came back. He said had the answers and the briefing and planning meeting continued. She shook her head as she listened. She figured she would keep quiet for now but a part of her still felt bad. Elliot trusted them to do their job, but it still felt like Elliot was not ready to trust them. 

* * *

Nate knew Elliot was different from the first time he met him. He did not know the words, but he had met people that just felt like Elliot. Similar actions, the occasional glance to a corner where no one was currently at, the slight head tilt as if he could hear something that no one could hear. It took Elliot two years before he came up to him with a request for research. There had been the horse, stable, job early into their working together. However, Nate knew that was a trial case. Elliot was laying the groundwork to see if he could be trusted. Nate was not sure he passed. They succeeded, but Elliot was still holding off. He kept holding off until after he went to prison.

The whole situation with Damian Monroe seemed to be enough to convince him to trust him. Elliot had asked one night. If there was something, they could do with a Pharmaceutical company called BPO. He mentioned a few run-ins, in his retrieval days, and knew that they were not the most above-board organizations and that their CEO was most likely corrupt.

Having never heard of them, which was an oddity in and of itself, Nate had Hardison investigate it, only to be told that nothing seemed suspicious. That was a major red flag. The company was too perfect, which added to Elliot’s confused look was enough to put him on edge with the company. Then Elliot asked another odd question. “Who’s the CEO?” This had made him blink since Elliot had mentioned his theory on the corruptness of the CEO. Pulling out the file Hardison had put together, Nate told Elliot and Elliot had just nodded.

“Thank you.”

Two weeks later, the CEO was found dead in his home. The only reason Nate knew Elliot had nothing to do with it, at least physically, was because they had been in the middle of a job when the man was killed, still, he had name-dropped the man in a conversation with the team over the next potential job and Elliot had just smirked and gave a blank look. Almost as if he knew what Nate was doing. That made him nervous. He did not like being nervous.

Nate took a drink from his glass as Elliot sat across from him. He was trying to think of a way to talk with him when a woman walked into the room. She moved her hajib to cover more of her face, but not hiding the tears that were filling her eyes, and a pet carrier at her side. A small meow indicating the animal inside.

“Nadima?” Elliot whispered as he got up, leaving his beer, and got up to see the young woman. The two spoke in hushed tones, through the earbuds he heard a tearful “birth” and “didn’t mean to” and “closest” before Elliot took out his earbud and placed it on the counter. He then walked the woman out of the bar.

No one saw or heard from Elliot for about a week. Sophie had taken to biting her nails. Parker was getting easily annoyed and Hardison had taken to snap at everyone whenever they asked him for something. Nate was smart, but it did not take a genius to discover that they were worried about Elliot.

“Hardison.”

“What now, Nate?” Hardison looked over at him from his computer. Nate put his hand up.

“I want you to find Elliot,” Nate said. As if by magic, both Sophie and Parker slid in next to him, a hopeful look in both their eyes.

“What do you think I’ve been trying to do for the past three days?” Hardison asked. “He just disappeared. He and that woman are seen walking down the street and then someone deletes the footage. It’s obvious and rushed, but effective. Someone did not want anyone to know where he and the woman were going.”

“Who could do that?” Nate asked.

“I don’t know. Me. Chaos. Maybe a handful of other hackers. Not many, what worries me is how sloppy it is. The person has skills, but apparently no time to make it look smooth. So, my question is why?”

“And the girl?”

“All I got was a college photo. No social media. She has a phone but no GPS. Hell, Elliot has more of an internet presence than she does, which is weird. I did get one thing. She attends the University of Illinois getting a Ph.D. in Social Services and had a job lined up in CPS. Apparently, she declined the job a week ago, took her cat, and left her apartment abandoned. Her name is Nadima Kalwar, family immigrated from Pakistan two generations ago, has two brothers, and one younger sister. Her family is worried about her, placed a missing person noticed five days ago after they told the police that her apartment had been ransacked. Look, nothing here makes any sense. By all appearances, Kalwar had a perfect life. Her boyfriend was questioned but said that she was supposed to meet him for dinner, but then just sent him a break-up text. Suspicious yes, but people verified that he was sitting at the restaurant for almost an hour before the text came in. Her friends were shocked since it had seemed like she really liked him. She just celebrated a birthday back in March, but nothing about her history gives anything away on how she might know Elliot.” 

“When in March?” Sophie asked. “March what?”

“March 13th,” Hardison said.

“Huh,” Sophie said. “Now that interesting.”

“What do you mean?” Nate asked.

“That’s Elliot’s Birthday.”

“How do you know Elliot’s Birthday?” Nate and Hardison asked at the same time.

“I asked,” Sophie stated. “Not that it means anything.” 

The bell over the door rang and it broke Nate’s heart a little as he watched the rest of his team look up and look disappointed at the small Asian woman and a blond hair woman enter the bar. Their eyes scanning the room before pausing to look at them. Their eyes narrowed as they shared a look before Nate watched as they made their way over to them.

“We were hoping to find you here.” The Asian woman said in accented English. “We’re looking for Elliot.”

“You aren’t the only one,” Hardison muttered.

“What do you mean, Hardison?” The blond asked her accent even more pronounced. Japanese and Eastern European. An odd combination. Although, if they were friends of Elliot, then they should not be underestimated. 

“How do you know my name?” Hardison asked as he looked over at them more carefully. The entire team stiffened.

“Parker,” The Asian woman looked over at Parker. “Nate.” She looked at him. “and Sophie nee…” She paused and wrote down a word and slid it to Sophie. Nate saw her eyes widen and knew it must have been her real name. 

“You know us, but we don’t know you,” Nate said. The Asian woman sat down while the blond stood behind her. Nate could tell that the blond had two guns hidden underneath her jacket. He was immediately on edge. They were not here for a friendly visit. What exactly did they want with Elliot?

“I am Noriko. I’m Elliot’s sister.” Noriko stated. “This is Sonia.” Noriko paused as Sonia gave a small shake. “Elliot disappear three days ago. Elliot would never disappear without letting one of us know first.”

“Three days. Three days. He’s been missing for over a week.” Hardison complained.

“From you, maybe. We are different.” Noriko stated.

“He left here with another woman.”

“We know. Nadima. She was with him. She is fine. She’s as worried as we are, but she is settling.” Noriko said and then jumped. “Fuck.” Sonia lunged to cover Noriko’s eyes. Nate noticed that Noriko started to seize under her hands and tried to pry them off. Sonia would not let them go, even as Sonia’s body suddenly started to seize. The team finally moved when Sonia spat out a mouthful of blood and collapsed onto the floor.

“ _ebat,_ ” Sonia muttered as she stopped shaking. “Noriko.”

“ _Kuso,”_ Noriko said as her voice wavered. “ _Kuso.”_ She moved to grab her scarf and wrap it around her eyes.

 _“_ Are you two okay?” Sophie asked as she rested a hand on Sonia’s shoulder. Sonia shrugged it off as she moved to help Noriko. Taking the scarf from Noriko’s trembling hands. 

“We can’t leave him.”

“We have a plan. You should be good for now.” Sonia stated and then glanced to her side. “Esmeralda, Noor. You two know what to do. Liam, you good?” Sonia paused. “Jorge. Yeah, you do that. See if anyone knows anything. We can’t let them have him. Noriko. Are you able to move?”

“How’d you know it would be me?” Noriko asked.

“Elliot was always the closest to you. He’d kill me if you got hurt.” Sonia said. She then paused as she looked at the smaller Asian woman. “Noriko. We need our leader.”

“I…Yes. You’re right.” Noriko said as she pushed herself standing. “Thank you, Sonia. Let’s gather our forces. They have a three-day head start.” Noriko started to move away from them when Nate grabbed her arm.

“What just happened?” Nate asked.

“Nothing,” Noriko stated. “We just found Elliot. We are going to get him back.” Noriko then pulled her arm out and used the back of her hand to wipe the blood from her mouth. “Leverage,” she paused as she looked at them. “Stay out of this. Elliot will be mad enough that we’re getting involved. He’ll be livid if you all get involved.” They then marched out of the bar.

“Hardison.”

“I’m using facial recognition as we speak. Noriko Yamazaki. Japanese national, living in Kyoto. She’s a teacher? Born March 14th. Sonia Liski, author. She’s big too. Writes mystery novels. Man, I loved that one. I did not realize she was the author. Here’s something weird. Born March 13th.”

“That can’t be a coincidence. Three of the four people associated with this were all born on the same day.” Nate said. “Where are they going?”

“I’ve got their license plates…and they’re gone. How are they doing this?”

“So, in other words, we are back to square one.” When silence greeted him, Nate threw back his drink. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

Sophie could tell that none of the rest of the team had left the apartment in the three days since those two women had shown up looking for Elliot. The way Noriko spoke to them, made her think of Elliot, with his sometimes brisk and all-knowing tone. She did not know how the two were siblings, but there was something about them that resonated between them. Taking a deep breath, she tried to pull the team back from their spiral. With Elliot still missing, the team dynamic was splintering. Taking a deep breath, she moved to cook something for the team. She was getting very worried about Hardison and his orange soda diet.

“Woah,” Hardison called out. “Hey guys, take a look at this.” Hardison pushed a new video onto the big screen. “I found a glimpse of Sonia on a street cam about thirty minutes beforehand entering this building. Now…” He let it hang as the team watched new footage of a building that was rapidly going up in smoke. The reporter on the scene explaining how people had heard gunfire and shouting before the top three floors blew up for a lack of a better term. This was going against the official line of a gas leak which was what the reporter was mentioning.

“What was that building?”

“A pharmaceutical company? What the hell? What are we missing?”

“Let me guess. The company’s name is BPO?” Nate asked. Sophie recognized the look on Nate’s face. It was the look of him knowing he had all the pieces but was just shy of putting it all together.

“Yeah, how’d you guess it.”

“Elliot had me look into them about a year ago, remember when you did that.”

“Yeah, but what does that have to do with this?”

“That I don’t know yet.”

“Well, that’s a shame.” Everyone looked up to see Sterling walking in.

“Sterling. To what do we owe the displeasure?” Sophie asked.

“That company is starting to make waves and I wanted to know why. Then I get a file,” Sterling lifted a file, “and who do I see in it. Elliot Spencer, aka Haven, which by the way I did not know was one of his aliases until I read this file, but who is quite famous.”

“What?” Parker asked.

“Haven is a human retrieval specialist. He’s on Interpol’s most wanted listed for human trafficking. He’s known to be able to get anyone out of anywhere, their final location never disclosed. Only one photo. I was able to recognize him.” Sterling said.

“Elliot retrieved items, not people.”

“So, he says,” Sterling said as he looked at them. “All I know is that Spencer is on the list and every time he retrieves someone, people were killed, and buildings were destroyed.”

“You have a point?” Nate asked, drawing up his poker face. Sophie knew, just like everyone else in the room, that the file in Sterling’s hand would have more information that they had managed to put together. 

“What happened and why is another building on fire?”

“We don’t know,” Nate answered. “That wasn’t us.”

“Yes, but you keep track of all your little teammates.” Sterling circled back. Sophie looked at them and gave a huff. She was tired of this little game. She wanted answers so she walked up and grabbed the file from Sterling’s hand and opened it. She then opened it and looked at them. Her heart broke a little as it was a street camera picture of Elliot, dressed for battle with an Asian woman with long white hair. Between them was a teenager. It was hard to tell if they were male or female as they had a bald head and were dressed in a hospital gown. They were leading what look to be five other people dressed similarly to the teen. The one thing they could tell was that the people had tears in their eyes, but Sophie suspected that it was from relief rather than fear. Not knowing what happened to them, she could see how people might think of this as human trafficking. 

How many times had Elliot gone on a mission like this? How many had he saved? He had said to never ask him about his past, but that had made it sound as if it was filled with hurt. What had happened to them? She then thought back to how sometimes, very rarely they would be out and about, and someone would nod towards them, almost like in praise. How did those people know about this side of Elliot, but they didn’t?

“How many?” Sophie asked, her voice tight.

“We believe it to be a little over 100 people,” Sterling answered. “We’ve tracked down a handful. They claim they didn’t know who either of those two people is nor do they know who took them, in fact, they deny they were ever taken in the first place. They just got new names, new identities, and new lives.” Sterling paused. “Interestingly enough; after we find them, they disappear.”

“And Interpol is alright with that?” Nate asked.

“They all live in different countries. Hard to enforce. Plus, whenever they tried, they just disappear again.” Sterling said. Sophie gave a bit of a nod as she started to look at the remaining files. Over twenty buildings had been hit. All different companies, but she did not need to have Hardison’s skills to know that they were shell companies and she almost wants to guess who the parent company was, but the answer is staring at her straight in the face.

“BPO. That’s what they all have in common.”

“See my conundrum.”

“We aren’t working on any job right now,” Nate said. “We haven’t broken any law. If you have nothing else for us. Please leave.” Nate waved him off.

“Looking for lost lambs to save. I get it. It’s what you do. I chase you when you break the rules. This is something else and I think it’s deeper and worse than what we think.” Sterling said. He then turned and with a backhanded wave, he left the room.

“Hardison.”

“Already on it.”

Sophie watched as they worked. Suddenly this company, BPO was on their radar and Sophie knew, once a company was in their sights, it was only a matter of time.

* * *

Hardison was ready to break his keyboard. None of this was making sense. He had had to deal with convoluted accounts. That was not asurprising fact. It was that none of it made sense. The higher up were a mystery. It was only through paychecks that he found out who they were. “They always forget the accounting,” Hardison muttered to himself. He heard a soft snore and looked over to where Parker was passed out on the couch and it was enough to keep him moving forward.

Elliot was a part of their family. The one that none of them would ever mention it nor say that it was true, but it was enough that Hardison would do whatever he could to make sure Elliot came home. One way or another. Hardison could tell that Sophie and Nate did not want to admit that they might find Elliot, but it would be too late. They were trying to protect him and Parker. A part of him knew that neither he nor Parker needed the protection, but it still felt good that they tried.

The more he uncovered, the more worried he was. Nothing about this made any sense. Plus, with the file that Sterling had given to them two days ago. If Elliot was this ‘Haven’ person, then who was he saving? Hardison knew that Elliot had fought in some revolutions and some hinky operations for the US Government and for his own desire. But this was different. He almost missed it. Thinking it was a typo. _Homo Sensorium._ That was the smoking gun. The files started to open faster than he could download them, and he was nearly sick to his stomach the more he read. Human experimentation, Vivisections, torture. Then came the names.

Names listed with numbers followed by _terminated_. There was the occasional _living_ , or _MIA_ listed next to the names. His eyes widen as he saw more and more names. Then he noticed another number next to the names. This time he did through up. It was ages. Most of the names were either very old or very young. A lot of them were his age. He then froze as he saw one name he recognized.

Elliot Spencer- _Deceased_.

His hand paused as it hovered over it. Did he really want to know more?

“Press it.” Hardison jumped as he glanced over to see Parker standing next to him. His startled movement caused him to click on Elliot’s name, but the serious pained look on Parker’s face was enough to keep him steady as the two of them began to read.

Elliot had been taken. It was stated that five other _Homo Sensorium_ had gotten away. Then came almost a week of electroshock torture to the brain. The last update had been the day of the explosion on the building they had seen on tv. The same day as Sterling’s visit. “Subject refuses to cooperate. Termination accepted.” Start to finish. Six days. Tears filled his eyes as he looked over the information. Most of it didn’t make any sense, but he didn’t care. His friend was dead. He was moved from his keyboard to the couch by Parker. The emotionless mask still on her face. He did not know how she could be so emotionless right now.

The two of them sat there. Holding each other for longer than Hardison could tell. It felt like days, while at the same time it had seemed like minutes when Nate came downstairs. When he heard Nate’s intake of breath, he knew the man had read the file. 

“I’ll let Sophie know.” Hardison nodded as he looked away. 

“Let Sophie know what?” Sophie asked as she walked down the same steps as Nate had done minutes prior.

“We found Elliot,” Parker said simply. Hardison knew Sophie was a master at Human interaction. She did not even need to look at the screen to know what that meant.

“Oh,” Sophie said softly. “I see. So, what are we going to do about it?”

“Do?” Hardison asked.

“If you think for one second if the situation was reversed that Elliot would let this slide you are mistaken,” Sophie said evenly. Hardison could hear the rage just underneath her voice.

“You’re right.” Hardison nodded in agreement and quickly wiped away the tears in his eyes. There would be time for crying later. He stood to make his way back to the computer screen.

“What do we know?” Nate asked as he sat down next to Sophie. Parker sat next to him. Hardison quickly explained everything he had figured out. Nate nodded. “Alright. Let’s go steal us some revenge.”

* * *

Elliot rolled his shoulder as he lifted his bag. He could see Noriko standing next to him, henpecking him.

“I’m fine. A sprained wrist, a broken rib, not much else beyond bruises.” Elliot stated.

“That’s not fine!” Noriko exclaimed. “We need to work on your definition of “fine”.” Elliot rolled his eyes. “Look we were lucky. We were able to get you out this time. Nadima is besided herself because of this.”

“Nads, it’s not your fault.” Elliot glanced over to see Nadima wringing her hands.

“But I was the one who gave birth to a cluster and it was one of my children that put you in harm’s way.”

“I’d do it again if it means keeping them safe. There needs to be fighters in this war. I’m alright being one of them. Plus, there are new players on the field. I’ve been talking with Mr. Hoy since this all started. They are making trouble for the Cannibal.”

“Doesn’t mean we can stop worrying,” Liam said from over his shoulder. “Make sure you…”

“Ice it, I know. I know.” Elliot waved. “You’re all a bunch of worriers. I’m still mad at you and Sonia for stopping by,” Elliot eyed Noriko. “You probably made them worry even more.”

“I thought you might have gone on Blockers and I wanted to yell at you in person.”

“I’ll make sure I pay for your and Sonia’s plane tickets,” Elliot said. “Don’t argue. I know your finances aren’t great. Think of it as punishment.”

“We need to work on your definition of punishment, too,” Jorge muttered behind him and Elliot rolled his eyes as the man disappeared as quickly as he arrived.

“They’re good enough.” Elliot gave a small nod.

“How pissed off do you think they’ll be?”

“You did leave them without a word for almost three weeks,” Liam said. “Most would say you’re lucky enough to still have a job.”

“Hmm,” Elliot said. “Nadima, you are settling in alright in Dallas?”

“As good as I can,” Nadima said. “Miss my non-sensate family.”

“Give it time. I’ll see about helping out that new Cluster and taking out BPO. We take care of them and you can go home.”

“Can you maybe not, for a few weeks. Let our stress levels decrease a bit before you go galivanting into some new danger.” Noor pleaded as she looked up from what seems like a pile of bills.

“I’ll try.” Elliot grinned. “Alright, let’s get this over with. I’ve got some serious ass-kissing to do. Now scram.” One by one, his cluster mates disappeared and left. Leaving just Noriko. “I’ll be okay.”

“I’ll trust that when I see it.” Noriko paused. “It took three days and you only almost showed me. It was only once. Why?”

“Nori. Once I saw that I nearly gave you away, I’d rather die than let you be seen. They didn’t want to risk it.”

“Thank you,” Noriko said. “I wish I could say I would have been strong enough.”

“You would have been,” Elliot replied. “I have faith in you.” He then paused. “Plus, if you had broken, I’m pretty sure you would have shown me and I could take them if I knew they were coming.” Noriko smiled at the add on.

“Yeah.” She trailed off. “Now stop procrastinating and get going.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Elliot said as he pulled open the door to the bar and walked inside into the middle of a wake? He blinked. “What?”

“Spencer?” Elliot looked up and saw Quinn standing there looking at him in shock.

“Quinn?” Elliot looked at him and then back at the glass in his hand. “What are you doing here? Who died?” Elliot felt his heart rate increase as he thought about all the trouble his team might have gotten into over the last couple of weeks.

“You did?”

“Me? I didn’t die. Why would you think I died?”

“Everyone knows that.” Elliot looked throughout the bar and noticed more than a few hitters sitting in the room. They looked like they were in the middle of a toast.

“Who told you I died?”

“It was pretty obvious with the rampage your team went on after the last few days. They dropped some files on the dark net. Look, Spencer, we might be on opposite sides, but we all have our limits and those people who killed you, we aren’t willing to let that slide.”

“That’s fine. Give them hell. But I’m not dead.” Elliot reiterated.

“A drink then!” Quinn dragged Elliot further into the bar and pushed a glass of whiskey into his hand. Elliot then spent the next ten minutes trying to escape the other hitters, without hurting them and avoid taking any more shots, one was more than enough to take on his current medications. He could feel Liam’s disproving stare behind his back. Liam was a bit of a stickler for the rules. He took three steps backward and ran into Hardison.

“Thank god. Hardison. What the hell’s been happening? Why does everyone think I’m dead?”

“Elliot?” Hardison asked as he poked him. His eyes widened.

“Damn it, Hardison!” Elliot growled. “What have you been telling people?”

“NATE! SOPHIE!” Hardison yelled, causing Elliot to jump. Nate and Sophie both came rushing out of the backroom. They came to an abrupt stop as they stared at him. Sophie brought a hand to her mouth.

“Elliot?” Sophie whispered. Elliot shook his head.

“This is completely your fault,” He muttered to Noriko and Sonia who looked just as confused as he did. “Why does everyone think I’m dead.”

“Because you were labeled deceased in the files,” Nate explained as he pulled Elliot into a hug.

“What files?” Elliot looked at Sophie who rushed forward and pulled him from Nate and gave him a hug.

“BPO’s, I hacked them. I found your name.”

“Ah. Yeah.” Elliot nodded. “I guess they update them beforehand rather than after. I could tell they were getting fed up.” Elliot paused. “I’m fine.” Elliot heard a cough. “ish. Bumps and Bruises. That’s all.”

“Don’t do that to us again. You just up and disappeared.” Sophie paused.

“I’m sorry,” Elliot said. “A friend needed some help. It was time-sensitive.”

“The five you saved?” Nate asked.

“You know about that?”

“It was in the file. It was very detailed.” Hardison stated. He then looked straight at Elliot and at that moment, Elliot knew. He knew. “Very detailed.”

“Well damn,” Jorge muttered. Elliot shot him a glare.

“Hey, where’s Parker.”

“Once word got out, hitters started to come by, we originally thought it was because they wanted to replace you on the team. Not that we’d let them, but Parker took it the wrong way and she’s been hiding out in the spare room upstairs.” Hardison stated. Elliot tried to keep his temper in check as Hardison kept poking at him, testing if he was real.

“I should go see her,” Elliot said.

“Let me break the news,” Sophie said, finally letting him go. “It’ll be better coming from me.” Elliot nodded and Sophie moved up the stairs.

“So.” Elliot paused as he looked over at Nate.

“We’ll talk about it later,” Nate said. “Although I don’t appreciate finding out about one of your alias from Sterling.”

“That jackass?” Elliot asked. “Wait which one?” Elliot asked with a growing sense of dread. 

“Yeah. So, who came up with the name? Haven.” Nate asked.

“Noor.” Elliot sighed as Nate and Hardison shot him a confused look. They said they knew, but then it hit him, they might now about the Homo Sensorium part of him, but not who is in his cluster. “She needed help getting out of a sticky situation. It worked out and she dropped the name and like ink in water, it spread faster than I could stop it. No matter how hard I tried.”

“Noor?” Hardison asked.

“Yeah. I’ll introduce you all, later. From what I understand you’ve already met Noriko and Sonia. Although they are much nicer when they are not as worried.” Elliot stated. “Although, Sonia is a more of the shoot first, ask questions later.” Elliot gave a small laugh that was cut short by a lithe body slamming into him and wrapping their arms around him. “Hey, Parker.”

“You’re alive.”

“Yeah. That’s what you get for getting ahead of yourselves.” Elliot stated as Parker just tightened her grip.

“Don’t do that again,” Parker said.

“I’ll try,” Elliot said. Both knowing that he could not really promise that. It took a few minutes, but Parker started to release her grip. Elliot looked at them all, happy to be back with his team. His Cluster gave him a knowing smile and he rolled his eyes. Suddenly a thought hit him. “Guys, if you all thought I was dead, did you start clearing out my apartment?”

“Well, you see…” Hardison started and then shrugged. Elliot looked at them and felt a headache form as the implication made itself known.

“Damn it, Hardison!”

* * *

The End


End file.
